The D/HH Helpline is available to individuals who experience any kind of disability, but primarily a hearing loss. It is know that youth who are disabled are 4 times more likely than youth who are not disabled to be physically or sexually abused either by their caregiver or within their own homes by family members. Because of the disability the youth may not have a way to express what is happening to him or her or even know that it is wrong. The helpline is the first effort to reach out to those disabled youth and to individuals who are aware of what might be happening to a disabled youth in their lives—the second phase is to open the ability for a disabled youth to interface with the helpline counselor via texting and chat options.